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Olga Nawoja Tokarczuk is a Polish writer, activist, and public intellectual.
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culture · Polish writer and activist (born 1962) · novelist · writer · psychologist · poet · librettist · publisher · donor · screenwriter · essayist · also Olga Tokarczuk, Tokarczuk
Born 29 January 1962 · Q254032
67 published statements · 0 followers
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“deep way of communication across borders, across languages, across cultures”
El Placer de la Lectura: Mira lo que Olga Tokarczuk -Premio Nobel 2018- dice de este autor: «es la literatura más exquisita sobre nuestra percepción del paso del tiempo, escrita con un estilo magistral y totalmente imprevisible..
Yahoo: 'Open your eyes': Olga Tokarczuk's short stories inspire Polish Theatre play
The Guardian: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead review – the radical, angry heart of Olga Tokarczuk’s novel is missing
Awarded honorary doctorate from Sorbonne University (2025).
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Hindustan Times: Review: The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk
The Guardian: Nobel prize winner Olga Tokarczuk: ‘We live with violence and misogyny like some sort of constant illness’
Won Golden Medal for Merit to Culture (2024).
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The Washington Post: Olga Tokarczuk’s ‘The Books of Jacob’ is finally here. Now we know why the Nobel judges were so awestruck.
NPR: Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk releases 'The Books of Jacob'
Wall Street Journal: Fiction: Olga Tokarczuk’s ‘The Books of Jacob’ Review
A stage version of the novel was produced by the British theatre company Complicité
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Published The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story
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The Guardian: The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk review – a messiah’s story
Yahoo: Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk's art book hits bookstores
By Jennifer Croft) is a journey over seven borders, five languages, and three major religions
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Tokarczuk received the titles of a Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Warsaw, University of Wrocław, and then from the Kraków's Jagiellonian University
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Awarded Paszport Polityki (2020).
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Awarded honorary citizen of Lower Silesia (2020).
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Awarded honorary citizen of Warsaw presented by Warsaw City Council (2020).
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Received the title of an Honorary Citizen of Warsaw as a recognition of her literary achievements
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Tokarczuk was a signatory, along with other prominent writers such as Margaret Atwood, John Banville, and J
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Awarded Warwick Prize for Women in Translation for Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (2019).
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Awarded Prix Laure Bataillon (2019).
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Awarded honorary citizen of Wrocław presented by Wrocław (2019).
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Awarded Ambassador of the correct Polish language (2019).
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Awarded EBRD Literature Prize (2019).
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Was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature for "a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life"
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Tokarczuk was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature for "a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life"
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Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature — for a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life.
Awarded Jan Michalski Prize (2018).
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Awarded Nobel Prize in Literature (2018).
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Awarded International Booker Prize for Flights (2018).
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Awarded Warwick Prize for Women in Translation for Flights (2018).
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The Irish Times: Flights by Olga Tokarczuk: ‘enchanting meditation on metamorphosis and connection’
Flights (English translation by Jennifer Croft) was awarded the Man Booker International Prize
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Awarded Kulturhuset Stadsteatern for The Books of Jacob (2016).
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Awarded Nike Award (2015).
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Awarded Brückepreis (2015).
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After the publication of The Books of Jacob, Tokarczuk was criticized by the Nowa Ruda Patriots association, which demanded that the town's council revoke her honorary citizenship of Nowa Ruda because, the association cl
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Received the German-Polish Bridge Prize for her contribution to mutual understanding between European nations
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Tokarczuk has co-hosted the Literary Heights Festival, which has included events in her village
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Awarded Vilenica Prize (2013).
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Was awarded the Slovene Vilenica Prize
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Awarded Usedom Literature Prize (2012).
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Won Silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis (2010).
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Tokarczuk received the Silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis
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Awarded Śląski Wawrzyn Literacki (2009).
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Tokarczuk published the existential, noir thriller novel Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych, Eng
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Tokarczuk received a literary scholarship from the Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, and during her stay at the NIAS campus in Wassenaar, she wrote Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, which was published
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Awarded Samuel-Bogumil-Linde prize (2008).
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Awarded Nike Award (2008).
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Was for the English translation (by Antonia Lloyd-Jones) of her 1998 novel House of Day, House of Night, which was shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award
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“(…) dalekowschodnia mądrość powiada, że „kiedy mędrzec wskazuje Księżyc, idioci patrzą na palec”. Język to właśnie palec, który wskazuje na Księżyc.”
“Nasza komunikacja jest o tyle istotna i głęboka, o ile pozostaje wzajemną wymianą tego, co subiektywne, a więc nie do końca komunikowalne. (…) Tylko fikcja literacka jest w stanie opowiedzieć taki stan subiektywności człowieka (a zarazem jego pełni), tylko fikcja z jej możliwościami zbudowania całej osoby ma przewagę nad argumentami rozumu (a więc nad tradycyjną formą intelektualnego wykładu).”
“Moje dzieła są wystarczająco dobrze zrobione, żeby żyć, ale też tak niedoskonałe, żeby nic ze swojego życia nie rozumieć. Przykro mi, że nie mogą być szczęśliwi.”
“Mówić do kogoś, kto nie rozumie, to próbować otworzyć zamek źdźbłem trawy, to kroić chleb gałązką bazylii, wkręcać żarówkę w ptasie gniazdo, wkładać dyskietkę między dwa kamienie. Daremnie.”
“Wszystko zdarza się tylko raz i my sami jesteśmy jednorazowi. Nie było nas, zanim się urodziliśmy, i nie będzie nas, gdy umrzemy, Raj to cyfrowy sen. Nikt nas nie wybawi, nie naprawi, nie zadośćuczyni.”
“Zgubiła ją własna duma; to jedyny grzech bogów.”
Together with her first husband, Tokarczuk founded the Ruta publishing house, which operated until 2004
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Awarded Kościelski Award (1997).
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Awarded Paszport Polityki (1996).
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Studied at Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw (1980–1985).
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Moved to Wrocław and later Wałbrzych, where she worked as a psychotherapist in 1986–89 and teachers' trainer in 1989–96
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And during her studies, she volunteered in an asylum for adolescents with behavioral problems
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Debuted with two short stories published in the youth scouting magazine Na Przełaj (No
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Born 1962-01-29.
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